Ireland U16s go down to narrow Welsh defeat
THE Republic of Ireland U16 side were unfortunate to go down to a 2-1 loss to hosts Wales in the Victory Shield at Dragon Park, Newport, this evening.
Paul Osam's side had drawn 0-0 with their Northern Ireland counterparts and were unlucky not to get at least a draw from this entertaining encounter.
Ireland had the home defence scrambling in the 18th minute but failed to turn the ball home and then ten minutes later the Welsh were denied an opener when Dylan Levitt had a shot blocked.
The Irish had an excellent opportunity to break the deadlock in the 36th minute but Luke O'Brien's strike was well-saved by home keeper Scott Reed.
Wales went ahead eight minutes into the second half with a scrappy goal that was eventually bundled home by Brandon Oddy after a goal mouth scramble.
The Welsh, captained by Ethan Ampadu the son of former Ireland U21 cap Kwame Ampadu, extended their lead in the 51st minute when Rabbi Matonda drove past two Irish defenders before blasting to the top corner.
Ireland responded well and seven minutes later Welsh keeper Reed was forced into another impressive stop from Jordan Doherty's long range strike.
The Irish pulled one back when Aaron Connolly should great composure to round the keeper and finish from a tight angle.
Osam's side had a penalty shout waves away in the 70th minute for an apparent hand-ball and has another appeal rejected after a challenge on Connolly.
The visitors were desperately unlucky not to equalise three minutes into injury-time when Lee O'Connor rattled the crossbar following a well-worked corner.
Ireland meet Scotland in their final fixture on Thursday afternoon.
"We played very well again but conceding two goals early on the second half. One was an unstoppable goal with a great finish although maybe we could have got a block on it," said Osam.
"I was very heartened to see that we didn't drop our heads after going two down and we rallied well. We'd made nine changes from the first game. We finished very strongly and had a couple of penalty appeals turned down and one seemed an absolute penalty in my opinion.
"The boys are very disappointed which is a natural reaction after losing a game but I've told them that we played very well. We learned a lot from this game and we will from the next game and the other games we'll play.
"We don’t want to be losing games and just learning but we've created 17 chances in two games. We'd like to score more but at least we are creating chances. I'm satisfied about how we've performed and I think the players can see that we've done well and just a few small things need to be fixed and we'll start turning performances into victories."
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Lorcan Callaghan, Cian Lee, Lee O'Connor, Daryl Walsh, Thomas Caffrey, Jonathan Afolabi, Niklas Baylor, Dominic Peppard, Luke O'Brien, Alex Kelly, Cian Hughes. Subs: Jordan Doherty for Baylor 50 mins; Aaron Connolly for Afolabi 55; James Jennings for Luke O'Brien 70.
RESULTS & FIXTURES
Sunday, November 1
Northern Ireland 0-0 Republic of Ireland, Newport Stadium
Tuesday, November 3
Wales 2-1 Republic of Ireland, Dragon Park, Newport
Thursday, November 5
Scotland v Republic of Ireland, Newport Stadium (12.00 noon) |
